THE Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI) laboratory at the Hong Kong Standards and Testing Centre has just upgraded its testing facilities by installing a new radio frequency signal analysis system from Hewlett-Packard.
For more than a decade, the EMI laboratory has been providing a vital service to electronics manufacturers in Hong Kong and southern China by helping them to develop products that meet the major EMI standards around the world.
For example, manufacturers of computer systems and audio products who want to sell their wares in the United States must first obtain approval from the US Federal Communications Commission.
The EMI laboratory is not only equipped to test for standards compliance, it is approved by the commission to carry out testing on its behalf.
''The commission rules are actually the best known of a whole series of national and international EMI standard that local manufacturers have to meet to export their products. We help clients develop their products to those standards and can support their application for certification,'' said Robert Cheung, assistant director of the Hong Kong Standards and Testing Centre.
''The installation of the new Hewlett-Packard analysis system should enable us to greatly improve our service to our manufacturing clients, enabling them to reduce the time spent in product testing.'' Mr Cheung said one of the challenges faced by the EMI laboratory was the fact that Hong Kong had high levels of radio frequency pollution, generated by mobile phones, improperly shielded electrical equipment and the sheer density of the environment.